Battles
by amberpire
Summary: And the way he looked up at me, all trusting and strong, I knew that the battles we would fight would be worth it because he'd be here with me, holding my hand. ;Harry/Draco;


I waited for so long for Ron to fall asleep. With each tick of the clock a century passed. I had been friends with the redhead long enough to know when exactly he drifted off into his dreams of Hermonie. (Because, let's be honest here, everyone knows he's hopelessly in love with her.) When he started to groan in an emotion I had no desire to find out, I scrambled out of bed. Ignoring the chill from the floor, I pulled my Invisibility Cloak out from under the bed. My breath caught when I heard a shift in the bed behind me - Ron's - and froze. Blood rushed in my ears, panic constricting my throat as I struggled to come up with a plausible reason as to why I was awake at this time of night with my Invisibility Cloak gripped in my sweaty, shaking hands.

But nothing happened. Ron had simply rolled over. He was asleep. Dead to the world and wrapped up in fantasies of Hermonie.

Releasing a tense breath through my teeth, I stood up and draped the Invisibility Cloak around me. Feeling pretty powerful - hard not to when you're, you know, invisible - I stepped barefoot out of the bedroom and down the spiral staircase.

Knowing I would be seeing him always made me feel so ... so ... words I can't even think of. Words that aren't invented yet. I pushed open the painting of the Fat Lady and peered out. The paintings around me snored. I considered bringing a candle but knew that I had walked this exact route so many times now, I doubted I needed light anymore.

I started down the hall, light in my step, completely giddy at heart. I couldn't help it. With someone like him waiting for me in a hidden room with no eyes and we could just be us, together, it was hard not to skip down the Hogwarts halls. I turned left, right, right, left, pass Snape's Potions Classroom, where I could hear him shuffling papers, left, and up the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side, where students were forbidden.

Oh, we're dangerous.

I pushed open the door. It creaked and I paused, listening for the soft pattering of Mrs. Norris's paws. After nearly a minute of waiting, intently listneing to any kind of dangers, I heard a whisper from behind the door.

"It's safe."

My knees wobbled because I would recognize that voice anywhere and it made my breathe shorten and nervous gymnastics start in my stomach. I pushed the door into darkness, prying through the room with my eyes. "Where are you?" I whispered, turning so I could slowly push the door closed with the least amount of noise. I dropped the Invisibility Cloak as I pushed the bolt in and we were officially safe in our own little heaven.

"Right here," his voice grumbled in my ear. It felt like his tone took a physical form and traced its way down my spine. I grinned, feeling his warm arms wrap around my waist. I leaned into his chest and felt his lips on my shoulder.

"I've missed you," I whispered, and his lips moved to my neck, kissing his way to my ear.

"Mmm, you too," he said, his voice husky and dark and I shivered again. His hands rubbed my arms. "I hate going through the whole day pretending I hate you." He brushed his lips on my earlobe and I stifled a gasp and my legs were turning to jelly beneath me because it's him and that's what he does to me.

"Me too," I said, shifting so I could face him. It was dark but my eyes had adjusted enough to make out the outline of his face. I reached up with one finger and touched his bottom lip. They parted with a gush of hot air running over my hand.

His hand slipped around my free one. "Come," he said, entwining our fingers and tugging. We walked slowly in the dark, him leading and watching for steps and I loved his hand in mine because I knew, I knew it was the only hand that would fit.

We stopped. I saw him reach in his pocket and pull out his wand. "Lumantie," he whispered, and the room blew up.

Not really. But I squinted and "rah"ed appropriately with the assualt against my corneas. When it was bearable, I pulled open my eyelids and almost melted because I have the best boyfriend in the whole world.

The room - which had always been dusty and full of cobwebs and cold and dark, was now filled with candles, and I mean filled. On old chairs, dressers, littered around the floor and even on the aging chandelier that dangled from the ceiling. The dust and cobwebs were gone and gathered in the center of the floor were blankets and pillows, red and gold and green and black, a mix of the Gryffindow and Slytherin colors.

"How did you ..." I started, and I felt my eyes water as I looked up at him. He was smiling down at me, the candles reflecitng in his blue eyes.

"Storage room. Skipped my last few classes to do this. For us." He blushed, and it was so cute seeing him so romantic like this, and I loved him. God, did I love him.

"Draco," I whispered, stepping toward him. I brushed a strand of his light blonde hair out of his eyes. I let my fingers linger on his cheekbone. "This is ... this is amazing. So amazing." His eyes were closed but he smiled into my hand and planted a kiss on my palm. He'd probably get in trouble for skipping and Slytherin would more than likely lose ponts, but, because of me, he was willing to do that and that made me squeal like a little girl.

I took his hands and tugged him into the sea of pillows he had created for us. It was even more comfortable than it looked. Soon we were hiding under the blankets and laughing, our limbs twisting around each others and it was nice, getting lost like this. I wasn't Harry Potter, the boy who lived, with Voldermort waiting at every turn, and he wasn't Draco Malfoy, the big bad bully with a father who hated everyone but himself. And we weren't enemies here. Just Harry and Draco.

When we got comfortable, my head cradled on his chest and arms and legs wound around one another, we sat in a nice silence, where there was just our breathing and warm skin and I was so happy, here with him.

"Harry," he said, slipping his hand under my shirt. His fingers ran up and down my vertebrae. I inconvientently forgot to breathe.

"Draco," I said, grinning against his neck.

"What are we going to do?"

And I got scared.

And I knew he was scared.

Because we had never talked about the future before. There was always Hogwarts. There was always this room. And the summers we spent apart between each year, our only form of communication being letters by owl, were unbearable, and we only had one more year before all of this was taken away from us and we were pushed into the real world and where would we go? What would we do?

My hands curled into fists. "I don't know," I admitted. "I don't think about it."

"I do," he sighed. "In a year, we'll be gone. We live so far away. And it won't be this easy to be together. There will be distance and," he paused. "other complications."

"Complications?"

"Harry, my father would kill me without blinking an eye if he knew about this. A Malfoy associating with a Potter. A Malfoy loving a Potter. A boy ... loving a boy." His voice was choked. I moved so I could see his face under mine.

"Draco, when we graduate, your father will have no control over you. We can run off and be together and no one but us will have a say in it. It won't be as scary as you think." But we both knew it would be much harder than I put it. There was Voldermort and Lucius and even the stupid homophobics, muggles and non-muggles alike, standing in our way.

I kissed him. I knew it would be hard after Hogwarts. We'd have to face all of the things we were hiding from in that room, and we would have to blur the lines of our staged war. I could just imagine Ron and Hermonie's faces when I told them, which would be soon. I couldn't take lying to my best friends anymore.

"I love you," I said, my lips brushing his as I spoke. And the way he looked up at me, all trusting and strong, I knew that the battles we would fight would be worth it because he'd be here with me, holding my hand.

"I love you too." Draco smiled and touched my scar.


End file.
